What a night to be a Pens fan.
The last time we saw the Caps, the Washington hockey prophecy of building up themselves in the regular season only to fail miserably in the postseason was being fulfilled. Nick Bonino crushed the hopes and dreams of a fanbase that should be used to having their hopes and dreams crushed by now, and the Caps went home early once again. Alex Ovechkin sat motionless on the bench, staring off blankly into space like someone who had just walked in on their parents peeing on one other, Braden Holtby took a nap on the ice.
Thursday night was a reminder of how this rivalry usually goes, and it was GLORIOUS. The game itself was a microcosm of the Caps entire existence: Get really close to winning, blow it when it matters most.
PREGAME
The Pens gave the emcee duties to Paul Steigerwald — probably the one and only guy who could find a way ruin the festivities — and sure enough he ended his opening speech by calling the Penguins “The Franchise of Champions in The City of Champions.” Probably sounded better in his head, especially considering there is a team who plays across the river that has six world championships, but there are 81 more games to gripe about him being embarrassing, whatever.
Crosby skated out last with the Cup — really all that was missing was Shawn Michaels on the jumbotron telling the rest of the league to Suck-It. Can’t understate how well the entire thing was put together, especially the icing on the cake:
http://gty.im/614474756
Damn, that’s sexy.
Jeff Jimerson ended everything by proclaiming, “We now officially and proudly begin the the 2016-17 season as the NHL’s defending Stanley Cup Champions,” and right then about 17 thousand people in attendance were ready to Kool-Aid a wall.
GAME RECAP
First Period
Things started fast and right out the gate Chris Kunitz sprung on a breakaway but couldn’t get a clean shot off. The Caps went to other way, Drake Burakovsky got inside position on Olli Maatta, Backstrom hit him with a nice pass, and right away it was 1-0, Caps.
Business really started picking up when Tom Kuhnhackl drilled Holtby on a play behind the Caps net. Justin Williams came in throwing his hands at everyone, looking like a drowning toddler in the process. Tom Sestito and Tom Wilson were on the ice, so of course they fought. They fight itself more closely resembled two empty garbage cans blowing down your street on a windy day. But seriously, what a rat this Wilson is. Probably aren’t enough dumpsters in the DC area for this guy to bathe in.
The period was back and forth with a lot of hitting. Pens killed a penalty and went into the first intermission down by one.
Second Period
Things slowed down to start the second but it didn’t take long for Wilson to attempt to murder someone, because garbage can. This time it was Matt Cullen along the boards, but fortunately Cullen used his Dad Vision and ducked it. Immediately after, Tom Sestito missed a wide open net, because garbage can.
Halfway through the period the Caps had too many men on the ice, the refs caught it and the Pens got a power play. Holtby was checking his shoelaces when Kris Letang flung a wrister on goal from the point. The puck deflected off Patric Hornqvist and in, tying the game at one. The goal was reviewed and deemed good. Holtby continued to protest like a baby. Thought for a second it was nap time again but play continued.
The Caps began the press but MAF stood tall. With about a minute left to go, TJ Oshie tried a shootout move on a zone exit and coughed the puck up to Conor Sheary. Sheary found Malkin all alone in front — Geno had time to make a collect call to Russia before going forehand/backhand, trickling one through Holtby to put the Pens up 2-1.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/786747528318517248
Third Period
What a period this was.
The Caps tied the game again at three halfway through when Maatta couldn’t get a puck deep in the offensive zone. He was caught out of position and the Caps went the other way. Again it was Backstom and Burakovsky wheeling and dealing before the latter wristed one past Fleury.
Rest of the way, it was all about the goaltending.
Fleury made a huge stop on a Marcus Johansson, Holtby answered by robbing Bonino point blank. Fleury stood on his head while the Caps were in a frenzy, Holtby responded by stopping Hornqvist on the doorstep. You just knew this game was going to go to OT, and when it inevitably did, it definitely didn’t disappoint.
OT
Good to see nothing has changed about 4-on-4 overtimes: hockey on meth. Sometimes you probably wish it always looked this way, but at the same time nobody wants to see someone have a heart attack on the ice.
The theme stayed the same in OT, as both goalies stole the show. Fleury was just unreal in the extra frame; looking like a guy who was playing like he had a job he wanted to keep. This save on Oshie was next level stuff:
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/786764450900631552
Shootout
Bonino went first and missed wide.
Oshie makes four and a half million dollars a year to be good in shootouts, so of course he scored.
Malkin followed with this:
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Fleury was able to stop Kuznetsov, and Letang made good on his try, but Backstrom snuck one through Fleury’s five-hole to keep things going.
Next up for the Pens was Phil the Thrill, and the President’s Favorite Hockey Player buried it:
A video posted by Meesh (@hockeymeesh) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:24pm PDT
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Everything keeps coming up Kessel and, man, what a ride the Phil Kessel Express has been. At this point, GMJR could sell classified documents to ISIS and people would still love him just for acquiring Phil.
Ovi had a chance to keep the thing going, but MAF stuffed him:
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/786766896200871936
In the end, the game played out exactly how it should have: The Caps were a threat, but it was the Pens night. Can’t wait for Washington to return home and raise a banner for attending a banner raising.
OTHER STUFF
- Up and down game for Maatta who looked really bad on a few of his lapses. Billy Bush might be the only person on the planet with a worse recovery ability.
- You almost take for granted how good Fleury can be when he is really on his game. He can make unrealistic saves look too easy. If he keeps turning in performances like this, it’ll be reallllllll hard to hand job back over to Matt Murray next month.
- Tom Wilson should be euthanized.
- Next up is Anaheim, Saturday night at the Paint Can.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/786767393842429952
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